Elk Grove Village raises vehicle sticker, permit fees after 18 years

For the first time in 18 years, Elk Grove Village residents will pay more for vehicle stickers. Businesses will also pay more for construction permits.

The village board Tuesday night approved raising fees for construction permits, plan review and inspection, and increasing vehicle sticker fees to collect an additional $275,000 yearly.

Officials said the hikes will help cover the increased cost of providing those services.

Trustee Samuel Lissner, who cast the lone vote against both increases, said the village should not be raising fees in this economy.

"Even though it's not a tax, it's a fee, it feels a lot like a tax," Lissner said. "I think it's just not the right time to raise any fees or taxes."

Lissner said raising construction permit fees could be detrimental to the village's industrial park.

Elk Grove Mayor Craig Johnson said the fee increases are nominal.

"I don't think our fees are going to chase anyone away," Johnson said. "I look at these more as user fees. This is not a general fee for everyone."

Johnson said the village will maintain its response time for plan reviews being returned within 10 working days, whereas other communities have seen delays of up to three months.

Trustee Jeffrey Franke said the economy is hurting village government as well as its residents.

"We are looking at some hard times coming ahead," he said. "This is something that should have been done years ago, just to keep up with the cost of road salt alone, which has skyrocketed."

Vehicle sticker revenues are used for street maintenance and road repairs. While the fee increase will generate an additional $150,000 yearly, by comparison, the cost of road salt has gone up $250,000 annually in the past few years, officials said.

Vehicle sticker fees will go up by $5 for passenger vehicles, $10 for trucks depending on weight, and $2.50 for seniors. The senior fee, now 50 cents, had not been changed for 38 years. The village says that $3 is the actual cost of producing a vehicle sticker.

"Even with these changes, Elk Grove Village will still be the best deal in the Chicagoland area," said Alan Boffice, director of engineering and community development.

Boffice said the village doesn't charge for certain services such as recapture fees, transportation impact fees or fire department review fees like some of its neighbors.

Trustee Patton Feichter said neighboring communities are raising taxes and fees where they can, just to keep up with rising costs. Meanwhile, Elk Grove has not raised the village portion of property taxes for three years.

"This is not an overly difficult burden on people," he said. "Everybody's affected by it. I think minor fee adjustments like this make some sense. We don't want to do it. It's something I think we have to do."